If Only In My Dreams
by Jelsemium
Summary: Aladdin's friends are plagued with bad dreams. Or is something more sinister going on?
1. Default Chapter

Disney's Aladdin:

If Only In My Dreams

By Jill D. Weber

Part 1 of 2

(Disclaimer: All characters are owned by the Disney Corporation and used without permission.)

He had been trapped by that dolt Aladdin. Trapped! In spite of all his powers! But he knew of a device that could free him. His enemies had it in their grasp. Now all he needed was to persuade that rat to use it in a way that would be beneficial to him.

It was not easy to adulterate a book in the material world, but the scroll was magic, which allowed him to manipulate the wording. It took months to rewrite it and redo the illustrations. Then he began his campaign.

The wind was cold and cutting, even by a genie's standards. The big blue one could have protected himself from the wind, but he needed the discomfort to take his mind off the emptiness inside. The wind whipped the icy sand through the last vestiges of the once proud city of Agrabah. Genie stopped at what he thought was the right spot and began to dig. After what seemed like hours he finally found a marble tomb that bore but a single name: Aladdin.

The genie touched the worn carving, then threw his head back to howl his pain to the uncaring wind.

And bumped his head on the lid of his lamp.

"Huh?" Genie poured himself out of the spout and looked around. Agrabah still stood in all its splendor... and squalor. This hovel definitely fit the latter category. Genie shook his head. He wondered about Aladdin's refusal to accept better living quarters. But then, he still lived in his lamp, though he was now free to go wherever he chose.

There was a small sigh from the pile of cushions near the 'picture window' (that is, the gaping hole in the wall). Genie floated over to examine his mortal friend. Aladdin lay on his back, with his arms curled around his head. His silky black hair fluffed defiantly in all directions, mostly across his eyes. The Magic Carpet was tucked up around him like a blanket in spite of the current heat wave. Abu and Iago were on cushions an arm's length away from Aladdin's head.

Genie's now awake mind insisted there was nothing wrong with Aladdin. He was not injured or sick. Or was he? Genie poofed as quietly as he could and wound up in a blue tunic with black shoulders and Star Fleet insignia (Next Generation). He whipped out his medical tricorder and pointed it at Aladdin. He pushed a button, lights flashed and indicators indicated. Genie frowned at the readings.

"Of course, it would probably help if I knew what this thing was saying," he muttered. He zapped it with a translation spell and these words formed on the screen:

"This is just a prop, you hockey puck. Why don't you take out a loan and buy yourself a life? At least wait for television to be invented before you turn into a couch-rutabaga."

Genie snorted. "And I thought Iago was bad." He tossed the snide-

corder out the gap in the wall. He poofed into his usual outfit, pulled out a stethoscope and moved toward Aladdin. Genie reconsidered. The cold disk might wake the boy.

Genie tenderly pushed the silky hair out of the boy's eyes and felt his forehead. No fever. Gently pressing his ear (the one without the cold gold earring) to Aladdin's chest, Genie listened for a moment. Steady heart beat, slow breathing, nothing unusual. All was well.

So why the bad dream?

Genie faded back into his lamp, but had a difficult time going back asleep.

The wind was cold and cutting; Jasmine clutched her hair to keep it from tangling in the bushes. She had to reach Aladdin! She crawled onto the narrow ridge that Aladdin was clinging to, but she couldn't reach him...

"Jasmine!" Aladdin said. "I'm slipping!"

"Hang on!" Jasmine whipped her hair ribbon out, it was thin, but made of good quality silk, it would have to do. She tied the jewel to the end and tossed it to Aladdin.

He caught the ribbon just as his handhold crumbled. The silk slipped right through Jasmine's fingers and Aladdin plunged out of sight. "NOOOOOOO!" screamed Jasmine. She lunged...

And found herself nose to nose with a bewildered Rajah. Dazedly, she pushed herself off her floor and looked around her familiar room. "Just a bad dream," she whispered. Then she buried her face in Rajah's neck. "It was just a bad dream." 

The wind was cold and cutting, and Iago's feathers were blowing in directions feathers were not meant to go. "Can we get out of here now?" he complained.

"We have to finish our mission," Aladdin said firmly. "A lot depends on our finding..."

Whatever Aladdin wanted to find found them first. Something reached up from the ground and grabbed the street rat, dragging him under. Abu shrieked...

Iago was awakened by Abu's screams. As was everybody else. "Wha...? Hey?" Iago found himself flapping in circles around Aladdin's dingy hovel.

"Abu?" Aladdin's soothing voice spoke gently. "Take it easy buddy. It's all right. It was just a bad dream."

Bad dream, right. Iago flew out the gap in the wall and looked around. There were no monsters in sight.

The parrot went back in to find Carpet wrapped around Aladdin. The twain was soothing the distraught monkey the best they could.

"What happened?" Genie was asking.

"Abu had a nightmare," Aladdin explained.

"Him, too?" Genie exclaimed.

"What is this, an epidemic?" Iago said sarcastically.

"You had one, too?" Genie exclaimed as Aladdin said: "You both had a nightmares, too?"

"Welllll... sort of... if you call Aladdin getting swallowed by the earth to be a nightmare, yes."

"Yuck," was Aladdin's reaction. "Next time, make yourself the star."

"I usually do," Iago said dryly. "What did you dream?" he asked Abu, but it was Carpet who answered by miming an avalanche, then pointing to Aladdin.

"Another nightmare about me?" Aladdin was taken aback. He was further shocked by Abu's vigorous agreement.

"Abu says he dreamed of quicksand," Iago said.

"Never mind, I get the picture." Aladdin looked at Genie. "I'm almost afraid to ask."

Genie shrugged. "All I dreamed about was digging up your tomb from where the sands of time had concealed it."

Impulsively, Aladdin hugged Genie, squashing Abu in the process. "Sorry," he said to the indignantly chattering simian.

"Hey, don't we get any sympathy?" Iago squawked. "I think our dreams were worse!"

"But Genie's might actually come true," Aladdin said somberly, thinking of his own mortality versus Genie's immortality.

"Oh," Iago said.

"Well, let's try to get back to sleep," Aladdin said.

"What, after all those nightmares about you?" Iago squawked. "Don't you think its odd that we all had nightmares dealing with you getting buried?"

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," Aladdin said.

"Can't we at least go to the palace? This hovel would give anybody nightmares," Iago complained.

"I didn't have any nightmares," Aladdin pointed out.

"Okay, anybody normal, even semi-normal," Iago punctuated his comment with a glare at Genie and Abu. Then a winning argument came to him. "Besides, what about the Princess? If we all had nightmares, maybe she had one, too."

Aladdin drew in his breath with a hiss. "I hadn't thought about that," he confessed.

Iago knew he had the kid hooked. Aladdin would do anything to protect his Princess, even from a nightmare. By the time he'd finished the thought, Aladdin, Abu and Genie were mounted on the Magic Carpet and flying out the gap in the wall.

"Hey, wait for me!" Iago squalled, flapping after them.

"Yes, that's right. Run to the palace. That's where the key is."

Jasmine's room was lit, and they could hear voices.

"I can send some men to fetch the street rat," Rasoul sounded too eager.

"No, that won't be necessary," Jasmine sounded heartsick.

Aladdin couldn't stand it. "Jasmine?" he called. Then he hopped off Carpet. He should have hopped first. He'd forgotten how fast Jasmine could move and she almost knocked the both of them off her balcony.

"Whoa!" Genie said, catching them as they bounced against the rail. "No flying without a pilot's license."

"Sorry," Jasmine said, wrapping her arms firmly around Aladdin's waist, partly for balance.

"You've had a nightmare, too?" Aladdin asked. He hugged Jasmine as he spoke.

Jasmine nodded, then her eyes widened. "Too? You mean, you've all had nightmares?" Of course, she added to herself. How else would they have known to check?

"They all had nightmares," Aladdin reported. "All of them about me being buried."

Jasmine described her dream as her father and Captain Rasoul came out onto the balcony.

"So, you're all right, Street Rat" grunted Rasoul brusquely. He was still not used to the idea of the Street Rat being a 'welcome ally' at the palace.

"Yes, thanks for asking, Rasoul," Aladdin said impudently. He still wasn't used to the idea of allies with the guards.

Jasmine and the Sultan exchanged exasperated eye rolls. They weren't used to allies who were hostile towards each other. Oddly enough, though, their antagonism helped Jasmine regain her composure. She didn't think they would squabble if there were immediate danger.

After everyone had finished describing his nightmare (or, in Jasmine's case, her nightmare), there was a pause as they all mulled over the implications.

"I take it neither of you had a nightmare?" Genie asked the Sultan and Rasoul.

"Er, no, not that I can recall," the Sultan said, pulling on his beard.

"I was on duty," huffed Rasoul. "Naturally I did not have any nightmares. Not that I'd consider those dreams to be nightmares," He glared at Aladdin as if he thought the street rat had planned this.

"Funny, I would have thought that me getting killed... by somebody else... would be a nightmare to you," retorted Aladdin.

"Stop baiting each other," Jasmine ordered. "That isn't getting us anywhere."

"Nothing else is getting us anywhere, either," Aladdin said. "I think we should all try to get some more sleep. Maybe we'll be able to think more clearly in the morning."

"That's easy for you to say," Iago grumbled. "YOU aren't the one having the nightmares."

"You have a point," Aladdin said. "If you have a better idea, I'm all ears."

Nobody had a better idea.

"Well, then I'd better get back to my duties," Rasoul said, with a glare at Aladdin. "I have to make one last inspection before I retire... for the night."

"Er... yes, you are dismissed Rasoul," the Sultan said before Aladdin could say anything rude.

"Good night, my princess," Aladdin said. He kissed her hand and backed out of the room, the guys trailing after him.

"Try to get some sleep, dearest," the Sultan said worriedly, patting her hand.

"I will, Father," Jasmine promised.

They exchanged cheek kisses and the Sultan left. In spite of the heat,

Jasmine felt the need for something warmer and changed into a woolen nightgown. Then she crawled into bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin.

The wind was cold and cutting, and Jasmine didn't want to see any more. She knew she was dreaming, and she knew how the dream was going to end.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin's voice sounded desperate.

Jasmine told herself that this was only a dream, that there was no real danger to Aladdin, but she raced toward the cry nonetheless. Aladdin was sprawled on a frozen river, and the ice underneath him was beginning to crack. "Jasmine, help!" he cried. Jasmine pulled off her scarf and tossed it toward Aladdin, but the ice broke before he could grab it and he was swept away.

"No-oo-oo!" shrieked Jasmine, forgetting this was a dream. "Aladdin!"

"I'm right here, Jasmine," Aladdin's comforting voice broke through her nightmare's haze. He rested one damp hand on her shoulder.

"Easy, Dearest," her father said in a soothing voice. "It was just a nightmare." The Sultan patted his daughter's hand reassuringly.

"I know," Jasmine said, forcing her voice to stay steady. "I even knew I was dreaming, but..." she swallowed, and looked out the window, dawn was breaking. "Excuse me, but I think I'll get dressed now. I don't think we'll be getting any more sleep tonight."

She stood up, then blinked at Aladdin. "Do I *want* to know why you are soaking wet?"

"No," Aladdin replied, pushing his soggy bangs off of his forehead.

"Because his suggestion of going to back to sleep was a NOT a good idea," grumbled Iago, giving Genie a Heavy Significant Glare.

Genie glared back. "I said was sorry about that shower," he huffed. "I was dreaming..."

"About fire, yes, you told us," Iago refused to admit he was glad that Genie had awakened everybody before Jasmine had started screaming. His own nightmare had involved a volcano.

Aladdin sighed. "I guess we need to figure out some course of action."

There was weariness in Aladdin's voice that alarmed Jasmine. A closer look at her fiancé's face did not reassure her. There were circles under his eyes and his skin had an unpleasant pallor. "Aladdin, are you all right?" she asked. "Did you have any nightmares?"

Aladdin shook his head. "No, not that I remember, anyway." He sighed. "I'm just tired."

"Maybe you didn't sleep well last night," Iago snarked. "I can't imagine why!"

"Iago, this is NOT Aladdin's fault," scolded Jasmine.

"Then whose fault is it?" demanded Iago.

The question made them all pause and think.

"Do you suppose this could be somebody's fault?" Aladdin asked, looking at Genie and Iago, the two magic experts. "Could somebody be sending the bad dreams deliberately?"

Genie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It is possible," he said. "But why everybody except you? I'd think you'd be the target."

Abu scooted to Aladdin's shoulders, scolding and shaking a fist at the Genie.

Genie held his hands up. "No offense, Al buddy, but you are the official hero around here." He waved one of his hands and a medal appeared around Aladdin's neck.

"No offense taken," Aladdin. He looked at the medal and decided he didn't want to know what 'FIDO' meant.

Abu contradicted him... loudly.

Aladdin grinned and stroked Abu on the head. "I think Abu is just hungry. Maybe we should have breakfast," he said, knowing that food would distract Abu from almost anything.

Abu humphed at them, then perked up at thought of eating.

"Well, sleep seems to be out of the question," the Sultan said.

But it didn't take long for the Sultan to start dozing off. It had been a long day. They sat around the table in the informal dining room; everybody but Aladdin and the Sultan nibbled on fruit while they waited for Safiya, the head cook, to fix breakfast. The Sultan saw that Aladdin was nodding off, so he didn't feel so bad about not being able to keep his eyes open.

The wind was cold and cutting, and fierce. "I don't like the looks of this," Jasmine said. "We'd better go inside." Jasmine and Aladdin moved away from the balcony's railing, but before they made the safety of the palace, the wind became a whirlwind. The balcony cracked and tilted away from the doorway.

"JUMP!" cried Aladdin.

Jasmine lost her footing and began to slide.

"Jasmine!" cried Aladdin. He leaped to the princess' side and heaved her through the doorway. The effort sent him tumbling away from safety, to the edge of the falling balcony... and over.

"NO!"

"Father?" Jasmine's worried voice woke the Sultan. "Wha? Oh, I guess I must have dozed off..." he raised on hand to his forehead and rubbed it rather dazedly.

Jasmine placed her hands on his shoulders. "Father? Are you all right?"

"Yes, Yes, I am fine," he looked over his daughter's shoulder and saw Aladdin pushing himself to a sitting position and rubbing his eyes. "But these nightmares are beginning to get seriously worrisome. They are definitely not natural."

Rasoul entered the dining room at that point. "Your Highness, are you all right?"

The Sultan nodded. "Yes, I'm fine," he said.

"What are you doing here?" Aladdin blurted in surprise.

Rasoul chose to take offense. "I'm on duty, Street Rat. Shall I have the Royal Librarian come and explain to you what the word 'duty' means?"

Aladdin bristled, but a pleading look from Jasmine curbed his tongue. "I didn't mean that as an insult, I was merely surprised. You were on duty last night," Aladdin gritted.

"And your point would be?" Rasoul said patronizingly.

"When are you OFF duty?"

"I'm never off duty," growled Rasoul.

"No wonder you're always so grumpy," Aladdin sniffed. "You should get yourself a life."

Rasoul turned purple and flexed his muscles. Aladdin bounced to his feet and tensed, waiting for Rasoul to take a swat at him.

Jasmine grasped the bridge of her nose, closed her eyes and shook her head. "Can we *please* confine our energy and attention to the matter at hand?" she inquired with conspicuous patience.

Manfully, Rasoul refrained from saying something regrettable in front of the princess and contented himself with scowling down at his smaller antagonist.

Aladdin scowled back, but allowed Jasmine pull him down beside her. Jasmine sighed to herself, but knew there were too many years of bad blood between her fiancé and her captain to expect it to suddenly vanish.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" she said. "Does anybody have any thing to say regarding the nightmares? Preferably, something useful?"

"How come Al hasn't had any bad dreams?" Iago groused.

Aladdin's first response was not coherent, since it was mumbled around a yawn-stifling-fist. He tried again. "I don't know. Do you think it's important?"

"Of course it's important, you dolt. You are the target."

"It's got to be," Iago said. "The nightmares are pointedly about you. So, what have you been dreamin' about, kid?"

Aladdin blinked a few times as he rummaged around through his memory. Finally he gave up and shrugged. "I don't remember," he said. "I usually don't remember my dreams."

Iago began to pace "Think, Kid, think. You must have been dreaming about something..." he looked pointedly at Jasmine. "...Or someone. So, what was it? It couldn't be anything natural."

Aladdin massaged his temples, and tried to remember what he'd been thinking and feeling just before he had heard the Sultan cry out. After several long minutes he gave up again and shrugged. "I don't remember any dream," he said.

"All I remember is a lot of greyness." He sighed and slumped into his cushions. "And cold," he added suddenly. "Greyness and coldness."

Iago didn't like the sound of that and he stopped pacing in mid step.

Jasmine didn't like the looks of that, so she spoke up.

"What does it mean?" she asked the parrot.

Iago swallowed and croaked out. "A Dream Channel."

"Is that cryptic utterance supposed to mean something?" the Sultan demanded. The humans, the monkey and the rug looked to Genie for an explanation.

Genie had gone from Robin's egg blue to a very pale sky blue. "Oh, of course."

"Genie?" Aladdin asked in alarm. "What is it? Another one of those t.v. things?"

Genie shook his head and looked unwontedly serious. "No, Kid. A Dream Channel is a spell that allows a Dream Raider to take over a person's dreams, then his mind and then his... soul."

Aladdin and Jasmine shivered and moved closer to each other. "But I haven't been dreaming," protested Aladdin.

Iago and Genie exchanged grim looks. "That's because the Dream Raider has been stealing your dreams," Iago explained. "All that is left is a feeling of cold greyness. It also robs you of the benefits of sleep, so no matter how long you've been asleep, you still feel tired."

Aladdin yawned again. "Oh, but why has everybody else been having nightmares about me?"

"Dream magic has residual effects," Genie said. "Like, if you throw a stone into a pond, the ripples splash water on everybody else. Stealing your dreams caused psychic ripples to splash nightmares on your friends."

The cold, grey voice laughed. "Finally, they think they know the truth. Now maybe that goof of a genie will persuade that poofy haired dolt to use IT. So I can use HIM!"

To Be Continued!


	2. Conclusion

Disney's Aladdin:

Disney's Aladdin:

If Only In My Dreams

By Jill D. Weber

Part 2 of 2

(Disclaimer: All characters are owned by the Disney Corporation and used without permission.)

"Is there anyway to be sure that this is what is happening?" Jasmine asked. She slipped her arm through Aladdin's. "And is there any way to stop it?"

Genie frowned and scratched his head. "There used to be gems called Dreamstones," he said worriedly. "They were used to stop Dream Raiders in the past, but it's been twelve thousand years since I've seen one, and I have no idea where to look."

"In Jafar's lab," Iago said.

Everybody looked at him. Iago shrugged. "He was a collector, what can I say."

"And what did he collect this device for?" the Sultan asked coldly.

Iago shrugged.

"So, how does this thing work?" Aladdin asked.

"If I remember correctly..." Genie stopped himself in mid-sentence. "Maybe we shouldn't rely on my memory."

"What choice to we have?" Aladdin said.

"Maybe Jafar had an instruction manual?" Genie said hopefully.

"Let's go look," Jasmine said.

There were books and scrolls piled up on every flat surface of Jafar's lab. At least the ones that weren't covered with beakers of noxious liquids or talismans or bones or...

"It'll take us hours to wade through this," Iago griped. "Why's this joint always such a mess?"

Genie waved his hand in the air like a school kid. "Ooo! Ooo! I know! Ask me! Ask me! What is, because every time we have a magical emergency we come through here like a hurricane with PMS and never clean up afterward! Now I'll take 'Myths on Video' for 200, Alex!"

Iago made a face at him. "Can't you come up with an explanation that doesn't involve us having to accept responsibility for our own actions?"

Aladdin gave a bark of laughter. "We probably should take better care of this place, it has been useful. So, where is this Dreamstone?" he asked Iago.

Iago shrugged and molted. "Beats me."

Abu picked up a handy scroll and looked ready to comply.

"That was a figure of speech, Abu," Aladdin reproved mildly, patting the monkey on his head and taking the scroll away. He looked at the clutter and sighed. "Well, let's get to work."

"So, what do you remember about the Dreamstone, Genie?" Jasmine asked. As she spoke, she finished leafing through a book and placed it on a shelf. She wasn't sure how to catalog magical books, so she was just going alphabetically by title.

"Well, as I recall, the Dream Channel is created by a Dream Raider using a Dreamstone to suck the victim's dreams out of his head. The Dream Defender uses another Dreamstone to deflect the first Dreamstone and close the Dream..."

"Yeah, yeah," interrupted Iago. "We get the message about the dream stuff, you don't have to use the word fifty times per sentence."

Genie frowned at him. "Hey, if you don't want to be on the Dream Team you can leave."

"No I can't," grumped Iago. "The nightmares won't stop. Otherwise I'd cut outta here and visit Thundra the Rain Bird."

"Go on a dream date with your dream girl?" Genie couldn't resist.

"Alllll, make him ST- O- OP," Iago whined.

"Genie, this isn't the time to tease Iago," Aladdin said quietly.

But Genie couldn't resist one last dig. "You're right, until we stop the raids, we're all in the same dream boat."

Aladdin rolled his eyes (but smiled). Iago let out a squawk and tore around the room in a rage.

The parrot plowed into Carpet, bounced out, hit Abu, who let out a shriek and jumped onto Aladdin's back. Aladdin staggered forward and collided with Jasmine. They tumbled against a bookcase, which swung open and smacked Genie in the face. Startled, Genie shot off a bolt of magic over the kids' heads, then it ricocheted off a silvery chest, slashed back over Aladdin and Jasmine's heads and scorched Iago's tail feathers.

"YES!" the cold, grey voice exalted. He saw an opportunity to speed up the process. So, with the great effort it took to send a spell from where he was to where they were, he put three things in motion.

The silver Chest started teetering precariously.

"Yow! Watch where you point that finger!" Iago scolded as he plummeted to the floor. Carpet heroically save him from going 'smoosh', but Iago only grunted at him.

"Sorry," Genie said sheepishly and white wooly hair sprang out around his head, then curly horns sprang out from his temples.

"Are you all right?" Aladdin asked Jasmine as they untangled themselves.

"I think so," Jasmine said as she pushed up from the floor. "And you?"

"I'm okay," Aladdin replied. He scrambled to his feet and offered her his hand. She took it with a smile and allowed him to help her to her feet.

They held hands for a few moments longer than they really needed to and looked deeply into each other's eyes. Iago had just opened his mouth to say something snide when Carpet whipped out from under him.

If somebody had been watching the Magic Carpet's backwash, they would have seen it catch Iago, then abruptly change direction and throw him into a bookcase. The observer would have also seen a scroll snatch at Iago as he landed.

However, all eyes were on Carpet as he swooped over the lovers' heads, the made a hairpin turn and plowed into them at full speed, knocking them back into the lab.

"Carp...!" Aladdin started angrily.

Just then, the silvery chest stopped teetering and crashed down, pinning Carpet.

"Carpet! Are you all right?" cried Jasmine.

"Carpet's been squishified!" wailed Genie, who clapped his hands to his head in horror.

Iago made a rude noise from bookcase where he was entangled in scrolls. "He's a rug, he can't get hurt by stuff falling on him." He paused. "Can you?" he asked Carpet.

Carpet indicated 'no'.

"We would have been," Aladdin said, looking at the large, heavy chest. "Thanks, Carpet."

Carpet made a little bow, then made an obvious effort to pull himself out from under the chest.

"Thanks, Carpet, you're an angel," Jasmine added. "Let's get this thing off of you."

Even working together, Jasmine and Aladdin couldn't move the chest from Carpet. They couldn't even lift it high enough for the Magic Carpet to slip out from under.

"This would have really hurt," Jasmine said when they stopped. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand. "Whew!"

"If we could have felt anything afterward," grunted Aladdin. He leaned against the wall, panting from exertion.

He wiped his sweaty hands on his vest. "I'm curious. That thing's so heavy, I don't see how it could have fallen by itself."

Jasmine frowned at him. "You think whoever is tampering with our dreams...?"

"NO! Cancel that thought. Bad thought! Bad Thought!"

"I'm afraid that it's all my fault, Princess!" Genie confessed with a hang dog expression. The dangling dog slipped loose from the noose, gave Genie a goose on his caboose, then vamoosed. Genie's face reappeared in a puff of blue smoke and he picked up the chest one handed.

Carpet swooped out, and circled around Genie like an affectionate cat.

"Show off," snorted Aladdin. The street rat straightened up, crossed his arms and gave Genie a sideways look that was equal parts good and bad humor.

Genie grinned. "If you got it, flaunt it!" he said, balancing the heavy chest on his left pinky.

Aladdin made a face at him.

Iago tried to flap away from the bookcase, but found himself inexplicably entangled in the scrolls. It was as if somebody had tied him up. "Hey, how about giving me a hand?"

Two large blue hands appeared and (you got it) started to applaud.

"Oh, how *very* original," snarled Iago.

Jasmine giggled, then came over and started to extricate him. Then she stopped.

"Well, get on with it!" bellowed Iago.

"This is the scroll about the Dream Stone," Jasmine said. "According to this, the stone is in..." She pulled the scroll free of Iago, sending the parrot spinning into the wall. "Sorry, Iago. The stone is in that chest!" she exclaimed, pointing to the silvery chest. Then she showed them the scroll.

A Genie blue owl swooped over, adjusted his spectacles and looked at the illustration labeled 'Chest of the Dreamstone.' Then he looked at the chest. "Looks like it," he said.

Aladdin examined the chest. "There's no writing on the chest," he said. "Are you sure it's the right one?"

Genie poofed into his 'Star Trek science officer' persona, complete with two heads (which are better than one) and blue science uniform (original Star Trek). He whipped out a tricorder and pointed it at the chest.

The tricorder said, in a very loud voice. "Hey! Couch Rutabaga! Didn't I warn you about getting reality and fantasy mixed up?"

"Hey! Box-boy!" Iago snarled. "One, you're talking to a Genie, who is in and of himself a confusion of reality and fantasy. Two, nobody insults my friends but ME!!" the irate parrot drop kicked the tricorder into the wall, where it cracked open and disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving nothing behind but a voided warrantee.

"Nice kick, bird man!" Genie said, giving him high five.

"Hey, I got to protect my schtick, y'know?" Iago said with what passed him for modesty.

"Enough of this foolishness! Open the CHEST!" howled the cold, grey voice.

"You want me to X-ray it?" Genie asked. The blue lug held up a pair of X-ray specs.

"I don't think so," Aladdin said. "Maybe we should just open it and look."

"Finally!"

"Oh, no!" Jasmine said, holding up her hands. "First we read the instructions."

"Party Pooper!"

"Easy," the scarlet parrot joined the robin's egg blue owl. "See," Iago pointed to the list of instructions. "We open the chest, form a circle, focus all our thoughts on the Dreamstone and zorch whoever is attacking Al."

"Sounds easy enough," Aladdin said brashly, fumbling with the latch.

YES!"

"NO! Not without a few precautions," Jasmine made a chopping motion with her hands.

"Precautions?" Aladdin said. "What do you mean?"

"Why? The Dreamstone is harmless, unless someone is using it against you," Iago said.

"We don't know for sure that the Dreamstone is in there," Jasmine pointed out. "I have a very bad feeling about this. Things just fell into place too neatly."

"NO!" His plan would work so much better if the chest was opened in Jafar's lab. The miasma of malevolent magic that pervaded the place would give him such a boost!

The first precaution was taking the chest out of Jafar's lab. ("This place gives me the creeps," Jasmine said. Nobody argued with her on this point.). The Sultan had one of the smaller treasure rooms cleared out to be used in the experiment. The Sultan insisted on staying. "If my daughter is going to be at any risk, then I am going to be here."

Rasoul posted heavily armed guards outside the door to keep anyone from wandering in by accident, but he insisted on being inside. "My duty is to protect the Sultan and the Princess. I cannot do that from the wrong side of a locked door."

"*I'll* be here," Aladdin said.

"My point exactly." Rasoul scowled at Aladdin.

Aladdin scowled back and his fists clenched, but before he could utter any more fightin' words, Jasmine lightly, but firmly, placed her hand over his mouth. She also gave Rasoul a warning look that he wisely heeded.

Jasmine moved her hand from Aladdin's mouth and clasped his fists gently. Aladdin, seeing Rasoul back down, relaxed and allowed his hands to unclench.

"Next precaution," Jasmine said. "Everybody put on cold weather gear."

This did garner a few objections. "We're in the middle of a heat wave!" Iago ranted. He paced on the table ripping out bunches of feathers. "In the middle of the desert! You want us all to get heat prostration?"

"No," Jasmine said, poking Iago in the beak. "But too many of the dreams had that cold and cutting wind. It has GOT to mean something."

The third precaution was to arm themselves. Jasmine, who was dressed in black leather armor, had a whip strapped to her slender waist and a sword strapped to her back. The Sultan, who was dressed in brown leather armor, had two swords strapped to his hips.

Rasoul, dressed in the winter uniform (which looked suspiciously like the summer uniform, except with long sleeves), had his usual sword. Iago and Abu could barely move under the weight of all the blades they were carrying.

Genie had on his 'Rambo' outfit and was carrying what he alternately called a 'Gatling Gun' or 'Old Betsy'. He also had six or eight arms. Aladdin had on blue wool pants, a red parka and carried no weapons.

"Are you sure?" Jasmine asked.

Aladdin shrugged. "I'm going to be opening the chest. I won't have any hands free to use a weapon, anyway."

"What if something jumps at you?" Iago queried querulously.

"I'll dodge," Aladdin said simply. Carpet flew up to him and clutched his shoulders protectively. Aladdin smiled fondly and patted him. "And jump onto Carpet," he added.

The fourth precaution involved a lot of ropes, chains and long nails that Genie called pitons.

"You into bondage as well as black leather?" Iago asked Jasmine.

Carpet smacked him into a wall. Jasmine frowned, then decided that if the usually sweet tempered Magic Carpet had decided that Iago needing smacking, then he probably did. She answered: "The second common thread is that every dream had Aladdin being pulled into or over or under or through something very UNpleasant

"Which means we take precautions against our Wonderkind being hoovered away!" Genie said. He poofed his outfit into lederhosen and a feathered cap.

(This was another case of almost understanding what Genie was getting at. Jasmine could see the point of the mountain climbing gear, but why Genie had turned himself into a marionette was beyond her.)

She looked at her father and Rasoul, who were rigging up a web of ropes. Rasoul was pounding pitons into the marble walls while the Sultan strung the ropes.

Genie ensured everything's security by liberal doses of something he called 'super glue.'

"Ready?" Jasmine asked.

"Uno momento!" Genie cried. He waved a wand with a star on its tip and everybody, including Rasoul, was wearing a leather harness with jingling metal rings. Another wave produced some gentleman that Genie addressed as 'Sir Ed', who gave a brief lecture on how to use mountain gear. Then Sir Ed was poofed back to the Himalayas.

Everyone was soon hitched to the webbing, even Iago.

"Why do I let myself get roped into these things?" the parrot moaned.

"Because it's better to be where you can see what's going on, then to have what's going on sneak up on you!" the Sultan said.

Iago scratched his head. "That almost made sense... but not quite."

Genie poofed back into his usual form and placed the chest in the center of the room. He poofed again and was dressed in his 'construction worker' outfit.

He took out something he called a 'jack hammer' and rat-a-tatted the chest to the floor. "Okay, I think that should do it. Hopefully, nothing untoward will happen, we find the dream stone, and put a stop to the dream raids."

"Then let's get to it," Aladdin said. He went to the chest and knelt beside it. If the cold, grey voice had been attached to breath, it would have been held.

"It's locked," Aladdin reported.

"I have a skeleton key!" Genie said, snapping his fingers. There was a *poof* and a foot tall skeleton wearing a top hat and carrying a cane appeared. It tap danced across the floor to the chest. It grinned at Aladdin and doffed his hat. Aladdin expected the skeleton to produce a key, but it just opened its mouth.

"A," sang the skeleton.

Aladdin looked at Genie.

"Key of D-K?" Genie asked, ducking his head back in embarrassment.

"Sounded more like key of off," Iago said snidely. "As in 'Gee, Genie is off..."

"See here," said the Sultan. He stopped as the involuntary pun hit his ear.

"C sharp or we'll B flat!" Jasmine interjected.

Her father rolled his eyes at her.

Meanwhile the skeleton had danced across the floor and was serenading Rasoul with a shrill rendition of Dem Bones.

Aladdin, ignoring all the silliness with the ease of long practice, picked the lock. "The latch is... stuck!" As he spoke he pulled at the stubborn latch and suddenly it gave way.

The wind was cold and cutting, not to mention strong enough to blow away everything that wasn't nailed down. The skeleton made a desperate grab and caught hold of one of the ropes.

The wind blew around the room three times, then split in two. One half pinned the others to the wall. The other half seized Aladdin. He was swept off his feet and only the multitude of ropes kept him from being pulled into the chest.

"Close the chest!" several people, a genie and a parrot called at once.

"Like, DUH," muttered Aladdin. He grabbed the Chest and pulled himself closer so he would have the leverage to slam in shut. Then he looked inside.

The wind died, allowing the others to peel themselves off the wall. They quickly unraveled themselves from the ropes.

"Good work, Hero Boy!" Genie said. He looked at Aladdin and his next words froze in his mouth.

The chest was still open.

The chest was emitting an eerie silver light that gave Aladdin's skin a sickly gray cast.

Genie spat out a mouthful of ice letters, which shattered when they hit the floor, and reached out his hand. "Al?" he said tentatively. The silver glow intensified, and Genie got a nasty shock.

Aladdin laughed. Or at least, a laugh came from Aladdin's mouth.

"Sorry, the Street Rat isn't in at the moment. Please leave a message at the sound of the coffin nail being driven in and he'll get back to you in a few dozen incarnations!"

Genie withdrew a step. "This is bad."

"Who are you? And what have you done to Aladdin?" Jasmine demanded.

Aladdin's head turned in her direction. His warm brown eyes had changed into soulless silver orbs and the skin of his face was stretched so tightly he seemed even more skeletal than the dancing skeleton.

The aforementioned dancing skeleton hid behind some curtains. Abu and Iago leaped onto Carpet, who curled his hem in front of them protectively. Jasmine grabbed her sword.

Aladdin's face grinned at Jasmine and she stepped back.

"What's the matter, darling?" purred the cold, gray voice coming from Aladdin's mouth. "Don't you recognize your beloved betrothed?"

"Im A'Ghul!" gasped Jasmine.

"The lord of the undead!" gasped the Sultan.

"Yes, the Lord of the Zombies, Duke of Death, and the very one that dolt Aladdin banished to the Netherworld... twice. No, three times!"

"Actually, it was four times," Jasmine pointed out.

"Oh, that's right. I'd almost forgotten. Thanks for reminding me," the Undead Wight smirked.

"Wait a minnit!" complained Genie, moving between Jasmine and the awful wight. "How did you open a Dream Channel?!"

"There was no Dream Channel, Dolt!" sneered A'Ghul. "I faked the indications so you would think there was a Dream Channel. Then I gimmicked the Dream Stone Scroll so you would think that the Chest of Cold and Cutting Wind contained the Dream Stone."

"When instead it contained a portal to the Netherworld! Which explains the cold and cutting wind. Because when a portal to the Netherworld is opened, the denser air of our universe is sucked in to the Netherworld" growled Genie.

Iago scratched his head and looked at Abu. "I didn't follow all that, did you?"

Genie tossed him a manuscript. "Here, read the script." Then he poofed into an overall clad redneck and said to A'Ghul. "Enough of this stuff! Give us back our wonder boy and go away. We don't want your kind around here!"

A'Ghul laughed again.

"Geez, Al's gonna have a sore throat when he gets back," Iago muttered.

"Sorry, but 'Al's' not coming back," sneered A'Ghul. "There's no way to get him back until I go back to the Netherworld-- intentionally and of my own free will. And I can assure you, that will never happen!"

He turned to Jasmine. "Now, about that interrupted wedding of ours..."

"Release Aladdin or I'll..." Jasmine flourished her sword.

"Or you'll what? Kill me?" mocked A'Ghul. "You can't."

"Oh, yes, she can," Iago the Wizard Wazir's former familiar pointed out. "As long as you are wearing a mortal body, you can be killed."

"But only at the cost of destroying the mortal body I'm wearing and dooming his spirit to an eternity of wandering." He jeered at Jasmine. "You can't fool me, I know you'll never do that to your precious street rat!"

Rasoul's laugh was as unnerving as A'Ghul's. "But I've been waiting years for this!" He raised his sword and charged at A'Ghul/Aladdin.

A'Ghul had been spying on the palace and its inhabitants since his first meeting with Aladdin. He knew of the long-standing hostility between Aladdin and Rasoul. The way they had just been behaving indicated that they still hated each other.

A'Ghul had no doubt that Rasoul would take advantage of the situation to kill his enemy. It's exactly what he would have done under the circumstances. There was only one thing for the lord of the undead to do: ABANDON STREET RAT!

A'Ghul turned back to the chest and dove in, forcing Aladdin's spirit back into his body. Then he turned to watch. Seeing Aladdin murdered wasn't what he had intended, but it would do. Especially since he would be able to capture the Street Rat's spirit to torment for the rest of eternity.

Rasoul slammed the chest shut on his way past it.

Aladdin looked around in bewilderment. He saw Rasoul bearing down on him and tried to dodge. But his muscles were stiff from having been under the Undead Lord's spell and he tumbled to the ground. He scrambled to his hands and knees in an effort to gain his feet, but ran out of time before his muscles had thawed sufficiently to obey him.

Rasoul smashed Aladdin to the floor with one foot, then raised his scimitar over his head and brought it down in a vicious arc. Aladdin flinched. The blade clanged off the marble floor inches from Aladdin's head.

"Aladdin!" everybody (but Rasoul) with linguistic abilities cried.

"I... I'm all right," Aladdin said queasily.

Rasoul offered him his hand and Aladdin was too shaken to refuse it. The muscle-bound guard hauled the slender street rat to his feet and held on until Aladdin could stand on his own.

Trapped again, all A'Ghul could do was stare at the not-dead street rat and grind his teeth. "Missed it by that much!" he swore, holding up his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. There was nothing to do now but begin to work on his next plot.

"Aladdin!" Jasmine cried. She was the first to hug him, but not the last and Aladdin was almost knocked off his feet again.

"Al, buddy! Are you hurt?" Genie said. The big blue lug poofed into a doctor's outfit and poofed Carpet into a floating examination table and gave Aladdin a quick once over.

While Genie was doing so, the Sultan unlocked the door and sent for the Royal Physician. Then he coaxed the quivering skeleton out from behind the curtains and charged it with making sure that nobody accidentally opened the chest again. The skeleton took courage from his commission and began to march around on the lid of the chest, brandishing his cane like a sword.

"I don't think I'm hurt," Aladdin said when finally Genie, then the Royal Physician finished checking him. "Just a little stiff." He tried a laugh, decided it was too unsteady and broke it off.

"I hate getting sucked into the Netherworld. It's too cold for this desert dweller," he said, sitting up on Carpet and rubbing his arms. Genie poofed the Magic Carpet back to his usual form.

"Good work, Rasoul," the Sultan congratulated his Captain of the Guard. "I'm glad you decided to risk not killing Aladdin."

"There would have been no point, Your Highness, A'Ghul was long gone before I reached him," Rasoul said blandly. "I could see by Aladdin's eyes that the Street Rat was back in his body. That's why I shut the chest."

Aladdin's jaw dropped and his dark brown eyes bugged. Then he blushed furiously and leaped to his feet. He shook his fist under the nose of the much larger man (giving himself more than a passing resemblance to a furious Abu) and bawled. "You KNEW it was me, you son of a flea-bitten jackal!??"

Rasoul folded his arms and looked DOWN on the sputtering youth. "Yes," he said calmly.

"Then why did you swing at me!?" howled Aladdin. "You almost gave me a HEART ATTACK!!"

Rasoul leered down at his bete noire and replied: "I can dream, can't I?"

The End!


End file.
